An Egg on the Head for Diabetes is just Dumb
Monday, March 16th, 2015
As an MBA graduate I’d agree that pouring water on your head for a good cause sounds tempting. Bang for your buck in NPO advertising is a difficult gig. But don’t forget that wasting water is an abomination for a good part of the World – that insignificant other who don’t receive potable water. And don’t forget that 85 per cent of the World live on the driest half of the planet. In a similar manner it’s probably in bad taste to crack an egg on your head for diabetes (or the Not for Profit, JDRF – Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
Consider this for a second. Food waste is a major problem in our society. About one third of food that we currently buy is wasted. In less affluent countries the same amount is lost due to lack of refrigeration and other constraints. Food is a valuable resource. It’s waste is a current global issue.
It’s bad enough that we let food go off in our refrigerator and then dump it into the rubbish. How arrogant we are to waste perfectly edible food, instead of cracking rotten eggs on our heads. As though eggs and diabetes and influenza are a natural marketing fit. Yes, I’m dubious on that relationship.
Also, realise that the food you buy doesn’t arrive out of thin air. And eggs don’t arrive like a puff of magic out of a chicken’s eager loins.
It takes a whopping 53 gallons of water to produce 1 egg. The chicken that produces the egg required resources to sustain in the way of food, shelter and maintenance. The egg didn’t wrap itself in a carton and arrive in your refrigerator. No. It passed through a factory at industrial cost (labour, lubricant for the machinery, electricity, the steel in the machines, the creation of those machines and the mining of the ore that became the factory).